Some Governors from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and their counterparts in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have quietly thrown their weight behind the move by the National Assembly to override President Muhammadu Buhari’s veto on the Electoral (Amendment) Bill, 2018, which is proposing, among others, to alter the sequence of elections in the country.
A highly placed source in the National Assembly says he has spoken to many of the governors, especially those seeking a second term in office, and they have given their tactical support surreptitiously to the amendment of the Electoral Act.
Buhari recently vetoed the Electoral Amendment Bill on the grounds that the section that is proposing to alter the election sequence for the presidential elections to hold last would infringe on the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organise and supervise elections in the country.
However, the National Assembly has vowed to override the president’s veto, with lobby intensifying by the day among pro- and anti-Buhari legislators to vote for or against the bill, amid allegations of offers of inducements by the executive arm of government to kill the bill.
The National Assembly can override a presidential veto if two-thirds of its members in both chambers vote for the bill to become law.
The source, who spoke in confidence on the backing of several state governors, said many of them are concerned that the president might work against them once his election has been held first, hence their preference for the amendment to the Electoral Act.
He said many governors have been quietly urging their lawmakers in the National Assembly to accelerate the process of overriding the president’s veto.
Other governors, it was gathered, are eager to see the amendment passed.
However, it is still not certain if the amendment will scale through in both chambers of the federal legislature, as a senator who spoke to THISDAY on the condition of anonymity, said he was confident that the amendment would pass easily at the Senate, but may hit a brick wall in the House of Representatives.
“The House of Representatives is likely to be the stumbling block, but if many of them realise that their return to the House may depend on the bill, they would not hesitate to override the president’s veto,” the senator said.
He also revealed that last week’s reconciliatory meeting by the leadership of the APC with its Senate Caucus to avert the planned override vote of the president’s veto has failed, as senators have started to append their signatures in register to vote in favour of the passage of the bill.
The senator claimed that at least 67 of his colleagues had already signed the register to override the veto, saying at least 15 are from the South-south geopolitical zone, 13 from the South-east, 10 from the South-west, 10 from the North-east, and seven from the North-west.
The register is believed to be in the custody of a senator from the North-east.
Another senator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, further revealed that about 20 senators were still undecided on whether to override the veto or support pro-Buhari senators who are said to be just 15 in number.
Senators from the opposition PDP are all in favour of overriding the veto, THISDAY gathered.
He explained that the pro-Buhari group has been operating under the assumption that it has about 40 senators on their side, but most of them are actually prepared to vote to override the president insofar as electronic voting is used on the day the voting takes place so that their identities can be concealed.
He also claimed that some PDP senators who have “deceptively” committed not to override the veto were only playing along in order to partake in the “largesse” being promised by the executive not to upturn the president’s veto.
“Of course, they (pro-Buhari group) will say they are more than that. But many are being blackmailed into doing so and are being promised cash. But they will vote pro-amendment at the end of the day.
“The pro-Buhari group is finding it hard to win people to their side, because our people know there is nothing special to be gained from fighting for the president. Chief John Oyegun (national chairman of the APC) cannot guarantee anything,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment